Whether you’re concerned about your carbon footprint or simply looking for ways to reduce your expenditure, reducing your waste generation should be important for any business.
Before you can start planning on how to improve things, its important you fully understand what’s currently going wrong. This is where a business waste audit comes into play.
An audit should always be your first port of call, as the results of this will determine what steps you take next.
In the following piece, we’ll briefly explain what a waste audit is and the long-term benefits moving forward.
What is a business waste audit?
In layman’s terms, a business waste audit is a review of the waste your business creates. By analysing your current waste output, the audit will determine:
- Areas of your business with excess (and reducible) waste levels.
- The efficiency (if applicable) of your recycling procedures.
- If you’re being overcharged for your waste services.
You can either undertake a waste audit yourself or outsource to experts. It normally depends on the size of your business, with smaller firms typically leaning towards the former. However, please remember a lack of in-house resources could have an impact on the accuracy of your results.
A business waste audit is not something you simply carry out once. You should continue to undertake a waste audit intermittently over time to ensure your current practices are still fit for purpose.
What are the benefits of a Business Waste Audit?
Reduce your carbon footprint
Approximately 8-10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions relate to waste.
A business waste audit will lay the foundations for your business to reduce the amount of waste produced and improve the efficiency of your recycling. Combined, the two will significantly improve your carbon footprint.
Enhance reputation of company
Ethically disposing of your waste is a great way to highlight your corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Studies show that businesses with a focus on CSR see improvements in:
- Attracting new customers.
- Retaining employees.
- Brand reputation.
- Customer retention.
Compliance with new government laws
New laws being brought into force in 2023 by the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will make it mandatory for all UK businesses to recycle their food waste.
For those of you operating in Wales, new laws coming in October 2023 require all businesses to separate key recyclable materials in the way the majority of Wales householders already do.
A business waste audit will identify the procedures you need to put into place ahead of these new laws.
Reduce costs long-term
If you’ve implemented your changes effectively, you should now be seeing a reduction in the amount of waste your business is generating. If this is the case, it’s time to start reviewing your current waste contracts to ensure you aren’t overpaying for a service you no longer need.
From downsizing to smaller, more cost-effective bins to rearranging weekly collections to fortnightly, there are a plethora of ways in which you reduce expenditure.
How can Procure Smart help me?
We understand how overwhelming the process is for businesses, especially for those at the very beginning.
To help, we have created a super-easy process for our experts to gather the necessary information to assess your costs and investigate savings, fast.
Through partnerships the UK’s leading waste suppliers, we can arrange a waste audit for your business as part of our solution.
All you need to do is send us your details, current waste contracts and average usage and we’ll do the rest for you. We’ll then find the best packages available right through to processing the paperwork on your behalf.
Our dedicated account management team will oversee the whole process and deal with any queries from suppliers.
Find out more about our hassle-free business waste switching service and read our team’s answers to some of our customers most frequently asked questions.
